Featuring two members of Bitch Magnet—Jon Fine (Vineland, Coptic Light, Don Caballero) and Orestes Morfín (Walt Mink, God Rifle, Bored Spies) alongside Simon Kobayashi (smallgang, Hurtling), the far-ranging trio presents their second and final single off the debut “Minako” LP. Due to release June 25.
We Contain Multitudes formed in 2017, which means it’s taken a very long time for them to actually release a record. But Jon lives in New York City, Orestes lives in Tucson, Arizona, and Simon lives in the UK in London. Also there was this whole Covid thing, which made getting together in the same room to play music rather complex for a while.
Purchase and Stream the second single “Atkins” via Bandcamp player below:
Purchase and Stream the first single “Can We Just Not?” on Bandcamp: https://expertworkrecords.bandcamp.com/track/can-we-just-not-2
Anyway. Simon met Jon and Orestes when smallgang opened for Bitch Magnet in London in 2011. When Jon and Orestes first discussed forming We Contain Multitudes, they immediately thought of recruiting Simon to play bass, largely because he is a much better guitarist than Jon.
Minako—pronounced mih-NAH-ko—is a name that means ‘beautiful child’ in Japanese. The album is at least partly named for the city Pop vocalist Minako Yoshida. (Simon, whose father is Japanese, came up with it.)
“It took us a long time to finish the songs on this album,” admits Jon. “If I’d had to write lyrics, we wouldn’t have finished this record until 2030, at least, and Expert Work would be even more disappointed with us than they already are.”
He continues, more seriously this time: “It was a great gift to be able to build these songs for years, in a kind of clandestine and invisible way. It feels like we’ve been keeping a secret from everyone, and we’re so fucking psyched to share it—finally!—with the world.”
We Contain Multitudes’ music is Heavy and intricate. At times, “Minako” goes far deeper into Psychedelic, repetitive, and Minimal/Maximalist realms than anything these guys’ prior bands have done. Talking about today’s drop, the second single off “Minako,” Jon Fine explains: “Atkins” changed in the studio more than any of our other songs,” says Jon. “The more we listened to it and thought about it, the more it suggested to us. Abe Seiferth, who mixed and produced it with us, did an unbelievable job in making it all cohere. The groove that Simon and Orestes came up with kills me—and, God, I love that ending so much.”
The band assembles their songs via a long and painstaking process. Often–though not always–it starts with riffs and parts Jon comes up with. These are shared via the usual long-distance/digital means. Sometimes Jon assembles such riffs into rough drafts of a song, which tend to get substantially reworked (and vastly improved) when the band gathers for intensive stretches of rehearsals. Also, Simon has an annoying knack of casually showing up with excellent bass riffs—or coming up with them on the spot; please, someone, explain to us how this happens—like the one in “We Are All Fucked,” which the band then fashions into songs. And Orestes is always sending Jon and Simon beats to work from.
“Minako” was recorded by Abe Seiferth and produced by Seiferth and the band. The double LP is coming out this June 25 via Expert Work Records. The limited edition of 300 including 50 on orange vinyl is available for pre-order now from Expert Work Records HERE. As well from Bandcamp HERE.
Tracklist:
01. Minako 16:06
02. Can We Just Not? 05:11
03. D9 04:17
04. We Are All Fucked 06:24
05. Bathroom Drugs 04:27
06. Jeitinho 05:12
07. Atkins 09:00
Lineup:
Jon Fine / Guitar
Simon Kobayashi / Bass
Orestes Morfin / Drums